After the lawsuit over Harriton High School’s alleged webcam surveillance triggered an FBI investigation, you would hope school officials would come clean about what they characterize as completely legitimate security activities. Yet Lower Merion School District’s response to parents seems to raise more questions than it answers.

In a statement on the district’s website, Superintendent Dr. Christopher W. McGinley seems to imply it was against school policy for students to take the laptops home. He wrote “this feature was limited to taking a still image of the computer user and an image of the desktop in order to help locate the reported missing, lost, or stolen computer (this includes tracking down a loaner computer that, against regulations, might be taken off campus).”

A FAQ on the district’s website clearly states that laptops may be taken off campus as long as the student has paid for the optional insurance offered by the district.

Superintendent McGinley acknowledges this later in his statement, which says there is “no reason to be concerned about the use of the laptop on campus or at home.” So why bring it up if it’s not relevant to the allegations?